social media and the referendum

Ireland Votes to Legalize Abortion. What Comes Next?
Ireland voted in a landslide to support abortion rights. But making abortion care available will take much more.

May 26, 2018
Sarah Jaffe

To Isolde Carmody, Ireland’s overwhelming vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution was a vote to continue down the road that her great-grand-uncle, Joseph Plunkett, and his contemporaries fought for in 1916, in the first steps toward an independent Irish Republic.

“Joe was definitely a feminist, a revolutionary. He deeply believed in equality and in social justice, and that was why he was involved in the revolution in 1916,” Carmody told Rewire.News. Her great-grandmother and grandmother had fought for women’s health care and access to information on abortion rights. She continued that tradition campaigning for “yes” in Leitrim.

DUBLIN (AP) — In homes and pubs, on leaflets and lampposts, debate is raging in Ireland over whether to lift the country's decades-old ban on abortion. Pro-repeal banners declare: "Her choice: vote yes." Anti-abortion placards warn against a "license to kill."

Online, the argument is just as charged — and more shadowy, as unregulated ads of uncertain origin battle to sway voters before Friday's referendum, which could give Irish women the right to end their pregnancies for the first time.

Ahead of the abortion referendum, Ireland explains #WhoNeedsYourYes
Supporters of the Yes campaign are dedicating their votes to the women they want to help

By Emily Baker
on 14.05.18

It’s now just under two weeks until Irish citizens will vote on whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment in their constitution and allow the government to make abortion legal up to 12 weeks. And as the No campaign becomes more and more malicious, those in favour of a change in law are choosing a more altruistic approach with the Twitter hashtag #WhoNeedsYourYes.

Those intending to vote Yes are using the hashtag to shine a light on the women who will ultimately benefit from legal abortion, with high-profile and everyday voters raising their voices:

Facebook bans foreign ads for Eighth Amendment referendum
Social media group says move is designed protect the ’integrity’ of elections and referendums from ’undue influence’

May 8, 2018
Ciara O'Brien

Facebook will no longer accept foreign advertisements relating to the upcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment. The ban will apply to ads that have been paid for by organisations outside Ireland.

The move, which came into force on Tuesday, comes amid concerns that organisations and individuals based outside the country would try to influence the outcome of the referendum through Facebook ad campaigns.

The Irish Times view on the abortion referendum: The shadow campaign
It is incumbent on all of us to talk with friends and family about what we are seeing online and whether it should be trusted

May 7, 2018

With less than three weeks to go to the referendum on repeal of the Eighth Amendment, concern has been expressed across the political spectrum about the potential impact of unregulated online advertising and of misleading information being disseminated via social media platforms.

Experience elsewhere suggests these digital campaigns are likely to increase in intensity as voting day approaches. Also that it will be impossible to gain a full picture of what is actually happening online before the vote takes place. The nature of targeted digital advertising, particularly on platforms such as Facebook, means certain messages will be restricted to specific demographic groups while remaining invisible to the rest of us.

New data shows how social media has become a battleground in a transatlantic backlash against abortion rights for Irish women.

Under Irish law, foreign citizens and groups are not allowed to make donations to Irish campaign groups. But these rules don't apply to advertising on social media platforms, prompting campaigners to call for an urgent change in the law